Easter

The skies cleared just long enough for us to color eggs outside

 We found a kit with little funny faces

The boys LOVED it

"I'm gonna eat your egg."

"No, Daddy, eata mine egg!"

The only time he used the spoon. (notice the blue hand)

 That night, Grace noticed his stained hand,
"Oh, Bud, what happened to your hand?"
"Grace, he's fine, it's just from coloring eggs."
"I colored eggs and my hand isn't blue."
"Well, he didn't use the spoon. It's OK, it's just from the dye."
Sigh- "It's Ok, Bud, but you're hand is gonna die."


Off to Aunt Kathy's house for Easter dinner

"Now get off my property!"
No, she was directing the egg hunt

Grace was getting a little help finding her eggs

"Mommy, uh oh, da pider!"

A week in review

While Tony and 19 others have been on a missions trip to Grenada (hopefully I'll have pictures and stories to share when he is home and settled) (PSS- By the time this is posted, he will be home- I never post publicly that my husband is gone and we are all alone for safety reasons)
...as I was saying, while they are gone, we have kept very busy. My friend's husband and two older children are on the trip, leaving her with only her son that is my boy's friend. So she asked if I would go with her to the museum. I made arrangements for the girls and Joshua, and we made it a boy's day out. We invited a few other friends to add to the fun. It was a long day, but the boys had a blast. OK, I had a little bit of fun, too. :)

Watching the humming birds in the butterfly garden.

I got home just in time to run back out the door. I had to take a few practice shots for a wedding on Saturday night. Courtney came along and I hired her as my second shooter. She shot from the balcony. I figured there would only be one or two images we could use because of her distance, but several turned out great. I think I may have to give her a raise.

Paige has been busy crafting. She is preparing for the craft fair coming up in just a few short weeks. I need to get busy, too.

On Saturday night, we had a slumber party. My three nieces came over for pizza and a movie. Joshua really took to Gianna. I had to slip out for the wedding, so I missed a couple hours of the get together.

Though I have had fun this week, I am looking forward to getting back into a regular routine. Having your husband gone throws everything off. The girls have gotten into a habit of staying up late with me, watching stupid shows like Hoarders and Say Yes to the Dress. I don't know when to go to bed, so I'm exhausted. We're running out of ice cream because he's not here to pick some up on his way home from work. And things are falling apart around here...

yeah, that's our coat rack/ game shelf. I took a picture before anyone touched it. I wanted a new shelf anyway. And, no, I didn't break it on purpose. I have witnesses.

I'll be back in a couple of days to let you know how the missions trip went, but for now, I'm going to take a few nights and just relax and maybe go to bed on time; try to catch up on some much needed rest.

Just a quick thought or two

Have I told you just how much I enjoy teaching my children?
No one told me (or maybe I just didn't listen) that the first few years would be full of trials. I was not prepared to come to the end of the year and worry over the curriculum choices, the content covered, the retention of the subjects taught...
I did not expect to have so many moments of sheer chaos, of babies climbing on the kitchen table, and raiding the fridge, in the middle of a lesson.
I would have run away screaming.

A discussion about researching accurate information 

Me- "No matter what the topic, there will always be groups that disagree with each other."

Courtney- "A dog is a mammal."

Me- "I disagree."

-silence-

Courtney- "You're a great teacher."

Every year we learn from our mistakes, we explore new curriculum, we discover out of necessity a new teaching technique. By the time Joshua is a Senior, I'll be an expert.

We are completing our 6th year. This has been the best year yet. We have a schedule that works great for us. I have focused on patience and self control (for myself) to maintain a more peaceful home and a better environment for learning. And things outside of my control like the little ones getting bigger have all helped to make this year successful and enjoyable.

Science review question

Me- "State the law of reflection."

Paige- "Don't break the mirror."

Though it may be difficult to try to teach a big family, and there are times that I think on how nice it would be to be able to devote all my attention to one child, moments like these...

make me appreciate being blessed with six. When I see Courtney helping Grace with her "schoolwork", laughing, giggling. Here she is learning colors. They are looking around the room for something green then, drawing it in her book. And pausing, of course, to pose for me.

For Fun

Smile

She's a poser. It's a photographer's dream come true to have a beautiful girl that loves to model. (unless it's cold out) but today was not so she was more than willing to show off her love for her mommy. This girl is something else. She sure can be stubborn and I often hear "Can you just send her away for the day?" (and they are not at all kidding) but she is also very sweet.

"Hey, you know what?" begins every statement. "I forbout to." (forgot) and "whobody stunked up our house?" are a couple of her favorite sayings.

Then Courtney handed the camera to me and tried to get Joshua to pose for a few. But he was not as willing.

Boy's birthday

All of them.I think it is so funny that my boy's birthdays are in the spring and my girls are in the fall. We planned it that way. :) We celebrated their birthday together, with the usual family party.

I should really get some good use out of my new flash but it sat in my camera bag and during the party, I didn't get any good pictures. So these are all I have to share...